One of Stephen Sondheim’s lesser known, yet highly esteemed and polarizing works, Passion tells the story of a young soldier stationed at a Milan outpost in 1863 who finds himself entangled between two women. This dynamic forces him to examine the true nature of passion, aided by a beautiful Sondheim score that can only be described as deliriously romantic. Based on Ettore Scola’s 1981 film Passione d’Amore and Iginio Ugo Tarchetti’s 1869 novel Fosca, Passion examines the impact of love, power, beauty, and manipulation on relationships, and challenges the difference between true passion and obsession.
Passion